This is a really big list of historically accurate Regency era names
for anyone looking for old-fashioned baby names, anyone writing a novel set in England in the Regency era, or even anyone writing Bridgerton fanfic. (And if you are interested in writing a novel set in 1800s England, check out my 50 Plot Ideas from Regency and Victorian Novels.)
Many of these names would have nicknames, such as “Nora” for “Honora,” Molly” for “Mary,” etc., but I’ve only listed diminutives if they were given names in their own right.
Most of them are common names, but there are a few weird names in there, too. The asterisks indicate some of the most popular names of the 1800s in Great Britain (and in the United States, too.)
I’ve separated them out into female names, male names, and last names. 1800s names didn’t change quickly from decade to decade, so although I focused on the Jane Austen period, these would be perfectly appropriate for a story set in the Victorian era as well.
To put this together, I used portions of UK Census Returns of 1801 and 1821, snippets of Burke’s Peerage 1826 that I could find online, and various parish records from the early 19th century. You can also find plenty of inspiration for historical names and other Regency era details from the novels of Georgette Heyer, Susan Ferrier, Frances Burney, Maria Edgeworth, Amelia Opie, and Elizabeth Inchbald.
I hope you find this list helpful, and if you’re working on a novel set in the Regency era, I hope you have great success with it!
Regency Names for Women
Abigail
Agnes
Albina
Alice*
Alicia
Amelia
Amy
Angel
Anne*/Anna/Ann*
Arabella
Augusta
Awellah
Barbara
Beatrice
Betsey
Betty*
Bridget
Caroline
Catherine*/Katherine
Cecilia
Charity
Charlotte*
Christianna
Deborah
Diana
Dinah
Dorothy, Dorothea
Edith
Eleanor*
Eliza*
Elizabeth*
Ellen*
Emily
Emma
Emmeline
Esther*
Fanny*
Florentia
Frances*
Frederica
Georgiana/Georgina
Grace*
Hannah*
Harriet*
Helen/Helena
Henrietta
Hester
Honora
Horatia
Isabel*, Isabella
Jane*
Jean
Jemima
Jenny
Jessie
Joan, Joanna
Joyce
Judith
Julia
Juliana
Juliet
Kitty
Laura
Lavinia
Leah
Letitia
Lilias
Louisa
Louisa-Margaretta
Lucy*
Lucy-Anne
Lydia
Madalene
Margaret
Maria*
Marianne
Marina
Margaret*
Marjorie
Martha*
Mary*
Mary Ann,* Mary-Anne
Matilda
Miriam
Modesty
Nancy*
Patience
Peace
Peggy
Phillis/Phyllis
Phoebe
Priscilla
Prudence
Rachel*
Rebecca*
Rose
Ruth
Sally*
Sarah*
Selina
Sophia*
Susan*
Susanna/Susannah
Tabitha
Teresa
Theodosia
Unity
Regency Era Names for Men
Aaron
Abraham*
Adam
Adolphus
Albinus
Albion
Alexander*
Algernon
Allan
Ambrose
Americus
Andrew
Anthony
Archibald
Arthur
Augustus
Aylmer
Baldwin
Barnard
Benedict
Benjamin*
Brook
Carew
Cecil
Charles*
Christmas
Christopher*
Coape
Colin
Cornelius
Daniel*
David*
Donald
Dudley
Duncan
Edmund*
Edward*
Edwin
Eli
Elias
Emanuel
Ephraim
Erasmus
Ernest
Evan
Ewan
Ezra
Felton
Francis*
Frederick
George*
Gerard
Gibbs
Giles
Gilbert
Graham
Guy
Harcourt
Harry
Henry*
Herbert
Honor
Horace
Hudson
Hugh*
Isaac*
Jacob
Jahleel
James*
Jasper
Jeffrey
Jeremy
Jerome
John*
Jonathan*
Joseph*
Joshua
Josiah
Josias
Kenneth
Laurence
Leonard
Levi
Lewis
Lodge
Loftus
Ludlow
Luke
Mark
Martin
Matthew*
Meshach
Michael
Miles
Morgan
Moses
Nash
Nathaniel
Neil
Nicholas
Noah
Norman
Obadiah
Oliver
Owen
Patrick
Percy
Percival
Peregrine
Peter*
Philip*
Phineas
Ralph
Reginald
Reuben
Richard*
Robert*
Roger
Rollo
Sampson
Samuel*
Seth
Shadrack
Sherborne
Silas
Simon
Solomon
Stephen
Theophile
Thomas*
Timothy
Walter
William*
Regency Era Last Names
Some of these names have aristocratic associations, and many do not. I didn’t separate them out because I worried about getting some of them wrong. However, most readers aren’t going to know the difference and aren’t going to look it up. Every historical author has to make the personal decision about how much time they want to invest in meticulous research in order to be historically accurate, versus how much time they want to spend actually writing their stories. If you’re a stickler for accuracy and want to make sure you’re using authentic noble names, the Landed Families of Britain and Ireland may be of some interest to you here.
Agar
Allen
Andrews
Arnold
Ayles
Balfour
Baker
Bannerman
Banfield
Barnes
Bamber
Barnet
Barrington
Bartlett
Barton
Bastable
Baxter
Bolt
Bragg
Brown
Beaumont
Beauchamp
Birks
Blackmore
Bolton
Bond
Booth
Bowles
Boyle
Burk
Butler
Buxton
Brooks
Browning
Byrd
Caddy
Campbell
Caney
Carter
Chant
Clark
Clarke
Cluett
Colborne
Comerford
Conolly
Cooke
Coombs
Cooper
Crampton
Crauford
Creassey
Crew
Cull
Curtis
Davis
Daw
Dean
Dennis
Dodge
Dowding
Down
Drake
Drew
Dunn
Dyke
Edge
Egerton
Elkins
Ellis
Fagean
Fernside
Fifett
Filliol
Finch
Fitzgerald
Fitzroy
Fitzwilliam
Fletcher
Follett
Forbes
Fortescue
Frampton
Fudge
Gale
Galpin
Garvey
George
Gibbon
Gibbs
Gillett
Gillingham
Godwin
Grant
Grave
Green
Gregory
Grove
Gouldsmith
Gulliver
Guppy
Guy
Haddington
Hancock
Hann
Hardy
Harding
Harris
Haskett
Hayward
Hatcher
Hawkins
Herbert
Hervey
Hill
Hind
Hodge
Honeyfield
Horder
Hose
Hoskins
Hosmer
Howe
Hughes
Humphries
Hunt
Hunter
Huntington
Hyatt
Jarvis
Jennings
Johnson
Jones
Keats
Kendall
Kingman
Knight
Lambert
Langley
Leeson
Lewis
Lightholder
Lilley
Linfield
Livingston
Lock
Lockhart
Longman
Lovell
Lush
Lymington
Major
Mead
Miash
Merchant
Miller
Montgomery
Montagu
Moore
Morton
Mowatt
Mowbray
Mullens
Munro
Neal
Needs
Nicholson
Nightingale
Norman
Notley
Nott
Oakley
Oliver
Parsons
Pemberton
Pembroke
Perry
Pike
Place
Plowman
Powell
Pratt
Price
Radcliff
Rake
Ramsbury
Rayment
Read
Reid
Reeves
Repington
Richards
Ridlington
Ridout
Robins
Rowe
Rowley
Rutley
Ruteledge
Russ
Russell
Scriven
Sculthorpe
Sedgewick
Selkirk
Sempill
Sergeant
Seton
Seymour
Sharp
Shepherd
Sims
Sinclair
Skeffington
Skinner
Slade
Slyfeel
Snowley
Soulden
Spranklin
St. John
St. George
St. Vincent
St. Clair
Stanhope
Stanton
Stapleton
Stewart
Storey
Sullyard
Stay
Stewart
Stickland
Stone
Sweet
Swinton
Talbot
Tattershall
Templeton
Terrell
Thorne
Thrup
Townshend
Trew
Tulk
Turner
Trowbridge
Vaughan
Vivian
Voss
Walford
Wallace
Ware
Warren
Warwick
Watts
Webb
Weston
Windham
White
Wilds
Wilmington
Wilson
Wood
Worthington
Wright
Wynn
Wycliff
Yeatman
Young
This list and several other lists of historical names are in my book Master Lists for Writers. It also includes lots of help for description, plotting, and more. Check it out!
Do you have 1800s names you’d like to recommend? Do you need other kinds of help with your Regency or Victorian novel? Let me know in the comments! Thanks so much for reading, and happy writing!
I love that you’ve done your research! That might be one of my favorite parts about writing – learning about things that interest me to make my stories richer 🙂
Aw thanks! Sorry the alignment is wonky. I tried for a long time to do the coding to put everything in neat columns…and then I just gave up. 🙂
Oh, this is brilliant. I’m always looking for historical names and usually go to Shakespeare to find a suitable one. Thanks for sharing.
Thank you! I hope it’s helpful!
Bless you for making this list.
So glad it’s helpful! Sorry the columns are all wonky. I couldn’t figure out how to straighten that out 🙂
This was very helpful for me. I’m researching for a Regency-era novel … and it’s great to have this resource! 🙂
Thank you, thank you, thank you!
Oh, very cool. I have my own list from baby name books that show dates when names were used, but from the census is even better! Bookmarking this now, plus pinned to my Pinterest board.
Thanks.
What a fabulous compilation!! One of the best I’ve seen in my research of Regency names for my writings. Thanks for your time on this. Quick q… did names have a first middle and last or just a first and last? trying to be as true to period as possible. thanks!
Thank you! This is so helpful for me. 🙂
Where is Howard and the other names for Medieval England and I know most of the Regency period plus War of The Roses and York, Lancaster and Tudor and Stuart and Handover names.
Good Question Howard, Beaufort, and so forth